GTA IV might be released early. But will it be on purpose?

According to a leaflet from the UK supermarket Tesco, GTA IV is going to be available in their stores on April 25th. There is a similar case in Poland, with a screenshot of a website advertising the games availability on the 25th as well.

Now, I don’t think that Rockstar would announce the 29th and then actually release it on the 25th, so we have to assume that these are either typo’s or companies that are going to let the product slip before its actual release date.

The reason that I bring this up is that South Africa is no stranger to situations such as these. Many titles have been released early, usually from stores that aren’t dedicated gaming stores and are usually clueless to worldwide release dates, I would try and name some of them, but I just cna’t think of any off the top of my head (Oops, i made a typo!).

This must cause concerns for publishers who are trying to ensure that no one gets the game ahead of time. Speaking to many local gamers, I realise how many people are almost banking on the fact that the game is going to slip somewhere. I know that if I happen to stroll past a store that has the game on its shelves before the release date, I won’t think twice about buying it and the truth is, I would probably tell everyone I know as well.

Do slips like these really affect the industry in a significant way though? I don’t really think so ( I have a feeling that some comments below are going to disagree). What I am worried about however, are scenarios where stores will purposefully slip the game and let people know ahead of time as if it was some sort of secret that no one should know about, in the hopes that tons of consumers will flock to their store to purchase the game, thus boosting their sales significantly.

So what does everyone think? Release date slips, do they have a major effect on the industry? If so, is it possible that there are any positive effects?

Video games writer, editor and critic since '08. Living and breathing video games, movies and cars since the 80s. Follow me on Twitter if you love tons of gaming talk, and @pennyworthrevs for fun stuff and links.

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